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MTN plans to expand into lending across key African markets, including Nigeria, as Africa’s biggest telco seeks regulatory approvals that would allow its fintech arm to offer a broader suite of financial services.
“We’ve expanded access to credit for more people, but we also want to move further up the lending value chain,” Serigne Dioum, MTN Group Fintech CEO, said at the company’s capital market event on Wednesday. “Where appropriate, we will seek licences that allow us not only to facilitate loans but also to lend directly to customers and deploy our own balance sheet.”
MTN’s strategy underscores its ambition to capture a larger share of Africa’s underserved credit market, where access to formal lending remains limited despite growing demand. According to a 2025 report by the National Credit Guarantee Company (NCGC), nearly 80% of Nigerian Macro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) lack access to formal credit, while a Stears report estimates the sector faces a $236 billion funding gap.
The challenge extends beyond Nigeria. According to Dioum, only 4% to 5% of adults across Africa currently have access to formal credit, leaving a vast market largely untapped by traditional financial institutions.
Nigeria sits at the heart of MTN’s expansion plans. MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita said the company is pursuing additional licences in Nigeria and other markets to deepen its financial services offerings, declining to disclose the specific licences being sought.
“We are pursuing additional licences that will allow us to offer a broader suite of financial products and services to customers,” Mupita said. “Nigeria is a key market in this regard, but the opportunity extends across several of our markets.”
The move comes as MTN continues to build out its fintech business, which has become one of the group’s fastest-growing divisions. In 2025, MTN Fintech generated approximately $2.8 billion in revenue, processed more than $500 billion in transaction value, and handled over 23 billion transactions across its markets, according to the company.
The company says it now serves more than 70 million active MoMo users, works with over 2 million merchants, and supports an agent network of more than 1.4 million people across Africa.
For MTN, lending represents the next major growth frontier.
The company already facilitates access to credit through partnerships in several markets. According to Dioum, more than one million people access loans through MTN’s platforms every day, using them to finance small businesses, purchase inventory, or cover urgent expenses such as healthcare costs.
However, moving from a facilitator role to becoming a direct lender could significantly increase MTN’s revenue opportunities while giving it greater control over the customer experience.
The push also aligns with the group’s broader assessment of Africa’s fintech opportunity. MTN estimates that the continent’s fintech revenue pool could expand as much as 13-fold over the next five years, driven by the continued digitisation of financial services.
Despite rapid fintech growth across Africa, more than 90% of transactions remain cash-based, according to the company. That presents opportunities not only in lending but also in payments and remittances.
“Together, payments, remittances and lending will be the key drivers of fintech growth over the next five years,” Dioum said.
In Nigeria, MTN has already begun laying the groundwork for a broader fintech play. In November 2024, MTN Nigeria applied for Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) and Payment Terminal Service Provider (PTSP) licences through its fintech subsidiary, MoMo PSB. Ralph said on Wednesday the licence process is still ongoing. The move reflected the company’s growing interest in controlling more of the payments value chain.
The PSSP licence would allow MoMo PSB to offer payment gateway services, merchant aggregation, payment processing, and other financial technology solutions. It would also reduce MTN’s reliance on third-party payment processors.
The PTSP licence would allow MoMo PSB to deploy and service POS terminals, develop POS applications, and offer training and support to merchants, agents, and users on the MoMo PSB platform.
Beyond licencing, MTN is also awaiting regulatory approval for the structural separation of its fintech business in Nigeria.
Mupita said shareholders have already approved the separation, with the process currently undergoing regulatory review by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“These separations are complex,” Mupita said. “In Nigeria, the structure is relatively novel, and regulators are carefully assessing it to ensure it is completed in the most tax-efficient manner possible.”
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